Due To Declining Enrollment, Three Delaware County Catholic Schools To Close

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – This week’s announcement that three Delaware County Catholic schools will close this month because of declining enrollment highlights the efforts of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The archdiocese has spent the last several months looking at the future of Catholic education across the region. Those efforts are expected to come to a conclusion before the end of the year.

The Blue Ribbon Commission, as it’s been dubbed, is charged with charting where Catholic schools go in the future. And while its work is not yet complete, Archdiocesan Superintendent Mary Rochford suggests people brace themselves because the economy, paired with the high cost of education, is forcing more than a few parents to opt out of Catholic schools.

And the church must look at the long term, adds Rochford.

“There will be a reorganization that is necessary to secure the future so that we’re not over the next year or two or three saying, well here are the next seven, here are the next six because we’re losing the confidence in people expecting us to be there.”

Translation: consolidations will make the system more reliable, not to mention viable.